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1 – 10 of over 7000In 2020, the coronavirus crisis ruptured societies and their everyday life around the globe. This chapter is a contribution to critically theorising the changes societies have…
Abstract
In 2020, the coronavirus crisis ruptured societies and their everyday life around the globe. This chapter is a contribution to critically theorising the changes societies have undergone in the light of the coronavirus crisis. It asks: How have everyday life and everyday communication changed in the coronavirus crisis? How does capitalism shape everyday life and everyday communication during this crisis?
This chapter focuses on how social space, everyday life and everyday communication have changed in the coronavirus crisis.
The coronavirus crisis is an existential crisis of humanity and society. It radically confronts humans with death and the fear of death. This collective experience can on the one hand result in new forms of solidarity and socialism or can on the other hand, if ideology and the far-right prevail, advance war and fascism. Political action and political economy are decisive factors in such a profound crisis that shatters society and everyday life.
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Zaghum Umar, Francisco Jareño and Ana Escribano
This paper aims to examine the dynamic return and volatility connectedness for six major industrial metals (tin, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and aluminium) and the coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the dynamic return and volatility connectedness for six major industrial metals (tin, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and aluminium) and the coronavirus media coverage index (MCI).
Design/methodology/approach
To that purpose, this study applies the fresh time-varying parameter vector autoregression methodology (TVP–VAR model) during the sample period between 2 January, 2020, and 16 April, 2021, that is, covering the three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Findings
This study’s results show interesting findings. First, dynamic total return and volatility connectedness changes over time, highlighting a significant increase during the third wave of the pandemic. Second, the MCI index is a leading net transmitter in terms of return and volatility at the introduction of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus crisis. Third, this study clearly distinguishes two profiles among industrial metals: copper and tin/zinc as net transmitters and lead and aluminium as net receivers. Finally, the most relevant differences between them are concentrated not only at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (first wave) but also during the second and third waves of the coronavirus outbreak.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that explores the dynamic return and volatility connectedness in the industrial metal market, applying the TVP–VAR methodology during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
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Komla D. Dzigbede and Anthony M. Ivanov
This article examines public sector leadership during the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana. It focuses on the Bank of Ghana – the nation's central bank…
Abstract
Purpose
This article examines public sector leadership during the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana. It focuses on the Bank of Ghana – the nation's central bank responsible for monetary policy and financial sector leadership – and examines the critical leadership attributes that the central bank demonstrated through its administrative and policy responses to the crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Text-based content analysis is the method of investigation in this study. The analysis relies on textual data from the Bank of Ghana's monetary policy committee press briefings. The textual data are analyzed in three steps, namely pre-analysis, analysis and interpretation to identify patterns, themes and emphases and to make inferences about the central bank's public sector leadership during the coronavirus crisis in Ghana.
Findings
The findings from textual analysis of monetary policy committee press briefings show that the central bank demonstrated several criteria of effective public service leadership during the crisis, namely sensemaking, critical decision-making, communication, accountability, adaptability and, to an extent, learning. However, the textual evidence suggests that the Bank of Ghana needs to broaden its collaboration and coordination across a wider spectrum of stakeholders in economic crisis management, while not compromising its policy independence.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the emerging literature on public sector leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. It provides a unique perspective on public sector leadership through the lens of economic crisis management in a developing country context.
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Sujood, Sheeba Hamid and Naseem Bano
This study examines the economic crisis caused by coronavirus on the global tourism industry in general and the Indian tourism industry in particular. This paper highlights the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the economic crisis caused by coronavirus on the global tourism industry in general and the Indian tourism industry in particular. This paper highlights the strategies that tourism companies should implement in times of crisis to reduce the negative impact. It also discovers the business opportunities which can be offered amid this deadly pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a systematic literature review. The literature has been explored by utilizing the keywords “economic crises,” “coronavirus,” “Indian tourism industry,” “Global tourism industry” on the three most popular databases namely Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. In this study, statistics, current events, published research papers and a synthesis of news transmitted by various media sources were used to assess the economic crisis caused by coronavirus.
Findings
The obtained findings demonstrate that coronavirus severely affected the economy of the world and India. The pandemic has hit the economies that are dependent on tourism the worst. These countries are expected to bear the brunt of the crisis's consequences for longer than other economies. This coronavirus outbreak indicates that the tourism industry was unprepared to deal with such a pandemic, which affected and crippled the economy.
Research limitations/implications
This study demonstrates economic crisis, management strategies and business opportunities during any crisis, chaos and disaster, in addition to its academic contribution to the existing body of the literature. Policymakers and industry practitioners might be offered suggestions based on the findings of current study to design futuristic strategies for better economic crisis management. The data given in this study is timely because taking an exact idea of tourism losses through the data is difficult, as the data changes as quickly as the virus spreads.
Originality/value
This paper forms its originality by concentrating on the aspects of economic crisis, strategies to mitigate the negative impact of coronavirus on the tourism economy and detailing the business opportunities which these crises can offer. This paper provides an evaluation of the current status of the tourism economy of the world and India as well.
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This paper examines the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the policy response in African countries.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the policy response in African countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses discourse analysis to analyse the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Africa.
Findings
The findings reveal that African countries have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and the effect was more severe for African regions compared to other regions. The rising pandemic affected social interaction and economic activities through the imposed social distancing policies that have different levels of strictness in several African countries
Practical implications
The implication of the findings is that social policies can affect the social and economic well-being of citizens. Secondly, the coronavirus outbreak has revealed how a biological crisis can be transformed to a sociological subject. The most important sociological consequence of the coronavirus outbreak for African citizens is the creation of social anxiety among families and households in the region. The outbreak has also shown how vulnerable African societies are in facing health hazards. Policymakers should enforce social policies that unite communities in bad times, to reduce social anxiety.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that explore the socio-economic impact of coronavirus and the policy response in African countries.
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This paper examines how human resources (HR) professionals in the UK have supported employee wellbeing during the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic. It considers the extent to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines how human resources (HR) professionals in the UK have supported employee wellbeing during the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic. It considers the extent to which HR professionals were prepared for the crisis and their readiness in supporting the wellbeing of their people.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 senior HR professionals working across the public and private sectors in the UK. Using an in-depth interview structure, the research explored how respondents both reacted to and managed the crisis in their respective organisations. Template analysis was used to analyse the data allowing a certain degree of fluidity in the establishment of ordered relationships between the themes.
Findings
This study finds that business continuity plans turned out to be useless during the pandemic because they focussed on data, not people. It highlights the tension between home-working and burn-out as online presenteeism increased due to staff changing their behaviour in response to self-surveillance. The paper emphasises the importance of soft skills and authentic leadership and the tensions in respect of equity.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted with HR professionals in the UK, not internationally. Although the sample did include HR professionals from across the public, private and third sectors, the experience may not be representative of all those working in HR.
Originality/value
This research found that those organisations that had engaged in business continuity planning prior to the pandemic focussed on the retrieval and accessibility of data rather than people. This prioritises staff as a resource rather than emphasising people as an organisation's most valuable asset. Furthermore, the study found that staff worked harder and for longer periods of time as a consequence of self-imposed surveillance. Organisational responses were contradictory as despite implementing well-being strategies to promote physical and mental health, there was little evidence of an effective response to this online presenteeism.
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The aim of this paper is to present systematically a variety of benefits from innovating in response to an economic crisis.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to present systematically a variety of benefits from innovating in response to an economic crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that draws on prior conceptual and empirical studies, especially the innovation-based view of firm performance.
Findings
Many firms have cut their innovation expenditures in response to the COVID-19 crisis. However, the financial crisis in 2008/2009 has shown that these short-term cost savings may have severely negative consequences on competitiveness. Several innovation examples from the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic further indicate that companies may benefit from a variety of first-order innovations, which go considerably beyond product development. Consequently, researchers and executives need to consider the variety of innovation types beyond product development, and they further need to emphasize second-order innovations, which describe the dynamic transformation of innovation management.
Originality/value
Academics and practitioners need to put specific attention to the transformation of innovation processes at the beginning of a crisis because firms may have to redesign their innovation processes. This dynamic reconfiguration and realignment of innovation processes further is essential again if a crisis continues for a longer period, such as the crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, if a company currently does not respond to relevant trends, its competitive position will deteriorate because other companies will enter the market. If firms can afford to continue or strengthen the innovation activities, they may profit substantially after the crisis.
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Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a pandemic that not only has caused significant havoc around the world but also presents some important opportunities for entrepreneurs to be innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a pandemic that not only has caused significant havoc around the world but also presents some important opportunities for entrepreneurs to be innovative in the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to detail in more depth how entrepreneurs have been affected by the crisis by focussing on specific types of entrepreneurship in terms of cultural, lifestyle and social change.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the existing literature on Covid-19 and crisis management is conducted that highlights the effect of the pandemic on entrepreneurs. This approach enables an integration of the existing research on resilience in terms of how entrepreneurs adapt and pivot their business models in response to change. Thereby enabling a contemporary view about the ways entrepreneurs can contribute to societal well-being in times of huge economic and social upheaval.
Findings
While entrepreneurs by nature are resilient, the Covid-19 crisis in terms of its magnitude and length has led to specific challenges faced by entrepreneurs in adapting to the new environment. These challenges can be related to the way entrepreneurs respond to uncertainty by being flexible but also through the support of an entrepreneurial ecosystem environment.
Originality/value
Due to the Covid-19 crisis being an ongoing and recent phenomenon, this paper is amongst the first to focus specifically on how cultural, lifestyle and social attributes of society have changed. Thereby providing advice to current and future entrepreneurs about how to respond to crisis situations and to manage short- and long-term considerations. There is a growing body of research in entrepreneurship that is offering valuable insights by taking a crisis approach. In addition to the practical opportunities touched upon in this paper, there are associated numerous research potentials due to the intersection of crisis management, entrepreneurship and resilience literature.
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